Mission Albany

Mission Albany was a parachute combat assault at night by the US 101st Airborne Division on 6 June 1944 during Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy during World War II.

The 101st Airborne Division's objectives were to secure the four causeway exits at Utah Beach, destroy a German coastal artillery battery at Saint-Martin-de-Varreville, capture the German artillery's command post at Mesieres, capture the Douve River lcok at La Barquette (opposite Carentan), capture two bridges over the Douve, destroy the highway bridges over the Douve at Saint-Come-du-Mont, and secure the Douve River valley. The German 709th Static Infantry Division, composed primarily of Osttruppen, opposed the assault.

The parachute landings were botched, as the planes came under heavy anti-aircraft fire, and many of them were shot down. All but one of the 101st's parachute artillery were lost during the drop, and many units were scattered, with impromptu units being formed by stragglers from different squads, regiments, and even divisions. Units of the US 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment seized and destroyed German batteries near Sainte Marie-du-Mont, and Lieutenant Richard Winters' Easy Company destroyed several German guns in the Brecourt Manor Assault. The airborne division would ultimately succeed in securing the beach exits, but the Germans were still able to move armored units over the Douve. Afterwards, destroying the bridges over the Douve became the division's main priority.